TOOLE
Continued From Page 1
bypassing her damaged nerve has
opened up a new world of sound.
Through a large incision in her skull
just above her ear, doctors at Tampa
General Hospital implanted a device
that receives sound impulses from a
speech processor she wears in her ear.
 "I thought it was amazing," Savanna
said last week, by signing and talking
simultaneously, about the moment
doctors turned up the volume on the
device for the first time, allowing her to
hear the kinds of sounds many of us
take for granted.
 The family recalls with joy the first
time Savanna heard birds sing, crickets
chirp and a cat meow. And since then,
"every day she hears something that's
a little thing for most people but is
monumental to us," said her mother,
Karen Pfotenhauer.
 Though she can read and write
English fine, the challenge now is to
improve her speech by learning how the
sounds go with the words. Karen and her
husband, John, said doctors warned
them that doesn't always happen.
 "But this kid is just phenomenal,"
said Karen Pfotenhauer. "She doesn't


let anything stop her."
 Savanna attends Brandon High
School because of its quality deaf pro-
gram, but takes mostly mainstream
classes there. Karen said the school
district has underestimated her
daughter since the beginning, even
telling her that she was setting Savanna
up for failure by pushing to have her
included in mainstream classes and
that she would never read and write
higher than a fourth grade level.
 Instead, Savanna has earned such
kudos as Most Outstanding Student at
Tomlin Middle School, where she also
was a member of the National Junior
Honor Society. She is on the high
honor roll at Brandon High, with a 3.5
grade point average.
 She could hear and feel enough of
the music to learn piano, and did so,
she said, "because she wanted to try
something new and that other hearing
kids could do."
 "She doesn't give up, no.matter what
people say," said Linsey Toole, Savan-
na's older sister.
 Growing up deaf has been difficult.
In a letter she wrote to The Courier
before undergoing surgery for the
implant, she said, "I try to accept being
deaf, but it's hard because a lot of
times I'm jealous of people because
they can hear and talk. I have wanted


to hear my whole life so I can be
involved in conversations and make
comments."
 She went on to write that she was
nervous about the implant because
sometimes it doesn't work, "but hope-
fully it will for me. I just'keep praying
every night." .
 The operation almost didn't happen.
When Savanna was a toddler, the
family asked doctors if an implant
could help their daughter. A surgeon
recommended against it. But recently,
friends and a relative all had one
installed and the family looked into it
again. They found that the technology
had improved and had a real chance at
improving Savanna's quality of life.
 A phone call to the insurance com-
pany gave the family another reason to
be thankful: insurance would cover all
but $25 of the $144,000 operation. When
they found out, "We sat in this house
and cried," Karen Pfotenhauer said.
 Savanna's doctors are amazed at the
gains she has enjoyed since the implant
was put in, Karen said. But she added
that now Savanna's progress will largely
be up to her. It will take an immense
and dedicated effort to learn how to
speak, she said. Savanna attends speech
therapy every day. When she commu-
nicates, she attempts to speak the
words as she's signing them.


 NOVEMBER 25,2004 THE COURIER 17
 i, -f'7 .F, 7,, ,,1 ",f *o + '. i 79.' 'rfT A,",
 "You just have to keep it in the back
of your mind that it takes time," John
Pfotenhauer said.
 Just in the past six months, the
family said they've seen a change in
Savanna. She has "blossomed emo-
tionally," her mother said, and she's
more confident in the kind of everyday
exchanges she used to shy away from,
such as ordering at a restaurant. She
used to hate to do it herself.
 "Now she -just walks up there and
tells them what she Wants," Linsey
Toole said, adding that Savanna is
much more patient when people can't
make'out what she says. "If they don't
understand, she just writes it down."
 The family also credits their faith.
 "I give it to the Lord," Karen said. "I
look at everything we've received this
year as a miracle.".
 Savanna, whose thinking about
joining Brandon High's dance team,
hopes to attend the University of Flor-
ida to train to be a deaf education
teacher at an elementary school.
 "I'd like to teach (deaf) kids math
and reading, and I think they'd
understand me more," she said. "I
know how they feel."
 What will she say when she says
grace this year? "I'm thankful for my
cochlear implant and I'm thankful for
my family," she said.


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